The Altamont Enterprise - Marcello Iaiahttp://altamontenterprise.com/author/marcello-iaia
enRecusals leave no one on the benchhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/02262015/recusals-leave-no-one-bench
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>BERNE — Attempting to avoid the appearance of impropriety, both town judges, Alan Zuk and Albert Raymond, have recused themselves from a misdemeanor case as it makes its way toward a jury trial.</p>
<p>With no judges available in Berne, Assistant District Attorney Brittany Grome submitted a formal request last week to use another town’s court as an alternative venue for the case charging Marcia Pangburn, a 58-year-old nurse and single mother, with resisting arrest and second-degree obstructing governmental information.</p>
<p>The Enterprise has published several articles on the case since Pangburn’s arrest last summer, when she was found a few hundred yards from her home mourning next to the graves of family members and deputies questioned her and tested her for signs of intoxication.</p>
<p>Albany County Court Judge Peter Lynch has reserved his decision on allowing the transfer while Pangburn’s next scheduled appearance in Berne is March 10.</p>
<p>“I think Mrs. Pangburn should have a jury of her peers, which are from the town where it happened,” Lewis Oliver, her attorney, said Tuesday, repeating his objection to the request during their appearance in front of Lynch on Feb. 18.</p>
<p>Lynch read from the moving papers that Zuk wrote that he had received “correspondence and input from community members,” according to a court transcript from the appearance.</p>
<p>“That certainly would in my view give him the absolutely the basis to recuse himself,” Lynch said in the transcript.</p>
<p>Oliver also said that, if Lynch decides to transfer the case, any decisions about evidence made by Zuk so far should be invalidated</p>
<p>“But that depends on when he received the communications that caused him to recuse himself from that,” Lynch responded.</p>
<p>Calls to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office and both town judges were not immediately returned on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Since Marcia Pangburn was arrested by deputies of the Albany County Sheriff’s Office last July, Zuk has presided over her case, which she originally sought to be dismissed. She has rejected separate offers from the assistant district attorney to plead guilty to the reduced charge of disorderly conduct and to adjourn the case in contemplation of dismissal.</p>
<p>She told The Enterprise she has had to use a loan to pay for legal representation, pursuing her defense because she believes she did nothing wrong.</p>
<p>In the early morning hours in July, police had Pangburn do one last test, the one-leg stand, which the arrest report says she failed. The officer asked her to blow into an alcohol-screening device and she began to walk away, almost out of view in a video recorded from the police dashboard.</p>
<p>When the two officers rushed to stand in front of her and she refused to submit to the screening device, one of the officers asked her to put her hands behind her back. She moved away from them and they grabbed her as she sat down on the pavement of the road, saying she would take the test as they pulled her arms behind her back.</p>
<p>After being taken to the sheriff’s station in Clarksville, Pangburn ultimately gave a .01-percent reading for her blood-alcohol content; police then brought her to her home near Thompsons Lake around 5:30 a.m. She said she had one mixed drink at a house-warming party earlier in the evening.</p>
<p>A concentration of .08 or higher is the legal threshold for driving while intoxicated, but other evidence of intoxication can be used by police, and a reading of more than .05 percent can be used as evidence for a charge of driving while ability impaired.</p>
<p>Judge Raymond has not presided over Pangburn’s case since July, though he has been present in town court for her appearances.</p>
<p>In his objection to the request to transfer courts, Oliver quoted from Raymond’s writing in the moving papers for Feb. 18, arguing that the grounds for recusal were inadequate to show bias.</p>
<p>“Though I feel confident that I would be fair and impartial in hearing the facts at hand, to ensure the appearance of fairness and impartiality to all, I must recuse,” Oliver read from Raymond’s words, according to the court transcript.</p>
<p>Lynch questioned Oliver’s statement about judges’ recusals, saying, if “based on their review of the case, for whatever reason personal to themselves they recuse themselves from the case, do you have authority to say that or would support your opposition to say, that even though you’re seeking to avoid an appearance of impropriety, you are still required to conduct the case?”</p>
<p>Oliver responded, “Is there a case that says, if a judge says I want to recuse myself and doesn’t give any reason? Can you go behind that? I don’t know of any case that says that.”</p>
<p>It was not clear in last week’s hearing whether Raymond had also received correspondence from community members.</p>
<p>During one of Pangburn’s appearances in town court in September, several of her neighbors were in the audience and expressed frustration, when she got up to leave, that Zuk hadn’t dismissed the case.</p>
<p>“We all know Ms. Pangburn,” Raymond said to the neighbors as he tried to reassure them that a legal process was being followed. “We’re a small town here. That’s the way it is. We’ve had meals together.”</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 26, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/berne-town-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Berne Town Court</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/marcia-pangburn" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcia Pangburn</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/albany-county-district-attorneys-office" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Albany County District Attorney&#039;s Office</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 26 Feb 2015 19:10:14 +0000admin5255 at http://altamontenterprise.comBKW budget proposals didn't play out as predictedhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/02262015/bkw-budget-proposals-didnt-play-out-predicted
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/4146" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08966.JPG?itok=2MzGnSvq" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08966.JPG?itok=JWg69MBf" width="300" height="180" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>A new format</strong> debuted at the Feb. 10 Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board meeting, with the audience separated into groups of chairs on either side of a podium, and tables in a horseshoe shape. Board President Joan Adriance said the change was influenced by Guilderland School Board meetings and meant to focus board members more on one another and less on a free exchange with the audience.<br />
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>BERNE — The budding discussion on the next district budget at Berne-Knox-Westerlo is showing choices are likely be much harder than last year.</p>
<p>At a Feb. 23 work session, school board members Joan Adriance and Earl Barcomb gave 2 percent as a tentative maximum increase to the tax levy.</p>
<p>“Until we restructure this district, we’re wasting our money — zero,” Vasilios Lefkaditis gave as his guideline in the ensuing budget process, saying earlier he hadn’t received the necessary reports on student achievement on which to base his decision.</p>
<p>During the meeting, Lefkaditis claimed the district was misled last year into costly union contracts and failed savings plans, echoing concerns he sounded last year about the sustainability of large changes that were made to the district’s budget and contracts.</p>
<p>Those changes were made under Interim Superintendent Lonnie Palmer. He was replaced this year with another interim superintendent, Joseph Natale, for another one-year stint. The district is currently looking to have a permanent superintendent and a secondary school principal hired by the end of the school year while developing next year’s spending plan.</p>
<p>When Lefkaditis suggested 2 percent wasn’t enough of an increase to solve the budgetary challenges faced by the district, Business Official Lauren Poehlman agreed, saying she nonetheless thinks that is what the board will likely approve. Poehlman is new to her post at BKW this year.</p>
<p>It was the first of several meetings among board members and the citizens’ budget advisory committee in which the budget will be hashed out before it is approved in April and voted on by district residents in May.</p>
<p>Speaking to the budget advisory committee on Feb. 23, Natale proposed a plan totaling $22.78 million, a 3.9-percent spending increase of $865,610 over this year, but did not include a proposal for the tax levy or an estimate of revenues. Like school districts across the state, BKW has no way of knowing what its state aid will be for next year as Governor Andrew Cuomo has said his proposed $1.1 billion in aid to schools,, a nearly 5-percent increase over this year, will be tied to the legiislature passing his reforms; additionally his office has not released the traditional "runs," or estimates of aid for each district.</p>
<p>Most of the increase proposed by Natale is to fund the plan, similar to its current form, with additional money, partly to make up for under-budgeted wages from this year and move the business office from a low of 2.4 full-time employees, down from six the year before, up to five next year.</p>
<p>Natale reminded the board it was not a final recommendation, saying he was still investigating to what extent the district should use a central business office through the Board Of Cooperative Educational Services.</p>
<p>“I’m tipping my hat to let you know where I’m looking, that’s all this is” Natale told the board, speaking of the business office which had trouble keeping up with purchase orders earlier in the school year, “It cannot — it cannot go on the way it is.”</p>
<p>While board members last year took a firm stance on taxes for the current budget — voting for no increase to the overall amount to be raised from property owners — it had roughly $1 million in projected savings to move around in new areas of instruction and training teachers.</p>
<p>Much of the planned savings came from shared services, including the reduction to the business office, which involved sharing Poehlman between BKW and Duanesburg.</p>
<p>“On top of that, you had three or four contracts that were settled, major adjustments to health insurance, salaries…,” Natale added.</p>
<p>In December, the shared business official agreement was scrapped and Poehlman resigned from Duanesburg effective in January.</p>
<p>Nearly half of Natale’s proposed increase comes from the increased wages, which board members asked Poehlman to detail for a future meeting. Out of the $866,000 increase, another $160,000 is for debt service and transfers, $170,000 is for BOCES services, $141,000 is for the business office, $28,800 is for supplies, and $3,300 is for contractual expenses.</p>
<p>An assessment presented by Natale at the Feb. 23 board meeting showed savings and spending over the 2014-15 school year are both now projected to be lower than planned, with a total gap of roughly $150,000.</p>
<p>Calculations made last year have thus far this school year been unrealized in two different directions. First, some of the planned improvements didn’t take place, thereby saving money over what was projected. Second, calculated savings didn’t materialize, creating a net loss.</p>
<p>The reasons given varied for each item, including a lack of qualified candidates for filling seven new teaching-assistant positions with certified teachers in the elementary school. Teachers took on the task of instructing just two out of nine available slots for enrichment classes in subjects like art history and American history through film, for which the budget allocated money. To Lefkaditis’s disappointment, no math teachers taught extra classes.</p>
<p>On the savings side, reality didn’t meet the budget’s design either.</p>
<p>For example, two of the five bus runs planned for consolidation actually resulted in savings, along with one of several bus aide positions that weren’t supposed to be needed.</p>
<p>Food Services Director Deborah Rosko reported on the success of her savings regimen, which included a significant cut to her staff, consolidating cooking to one kitchen, with food served in two schools. Rosko in her role as director is shared between BKW and Greenville.</p>
<p>But the cuts have meant an adult-meals program for faculty, staff, and parents, which had been a good source of revenue, has been compromised, and, with the influence of stringent nutrition regulations, a separate snack bar with a variety of options was reduced and made part of the regular lunch line. And the goal of the cuts — to balance revenue with expenses for food services, a challenge nationwide — has come closer, but not been realized.</p>
<p>“We all keep fighting the fight,” said Rosko.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 26, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/berne-knox-westerlo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Berne-Knox-Westerlo</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/budget" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">budget</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 26 Feb 2015 19:01:42 +0000admin5254 at http://altamontenterprise.comHitmans owner drops suit against Knoxhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/02192015/hitmans-owner-drops-suit-against-knox
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/4113" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/Kristen%20Reynders%20Hitmans%20Towing_0.jpg?itok=BQTCndSt" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Kristen%20Reynders%20Hitmans%20Towing_0.jpg?itok=7hdDKo6z" width="300" height="344" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Enterprise file photo — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Kristen Reynders, </strong>shown here running her Hitmans Towing business before she was ticketed by the town, said this week the business's three trucks are now parked elsewhere. From her home address on Route 146, she said, "The only thing I'm doing — I'm on the phone."</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>KNOX — Having pleaded guilty to violating the town’s zoning ordinance, Kristen Reynders said she got what she wanted: avoiding a criminal record that could have plagued the 26-year-old mother and owner of Hitmans Towing on Route 146.</p>
<p>Last week, she officially stopped pursuing the town in Albany County Supreme Court, a suit started shortly before her plea in town court on Jan. 21</p>
<p>“The reason we had filed it was because they were threatening a misdemeanor and obviously they didn’t charge the misdemeanor, so we decided to pull out,” Reynders said Wednesday.</p>
<p>Her attorney, Nicole Strippoli of Young, Fenton, Kelsey &amp; Brown, wrote the notice of discontinuing action on Feb. 12, essentially withdrawing her petition. The proceeding it asked for is an appeal of a government action allowed under Civil Practice Law, Article 78.</p>
<p>Knox’s attorney, John Dorfman, told <em>The Enterprise</em> he took no position in town court on the level of the charge — operating a business in an area zoned for residential uses — though he believes it could have been a misdemeanor.</p>
<p>Reynders said the towing business is continuing to operate, with three trucks and three employees, one of them her husband. The trucks — responding to over 30 calls a day, from “sun up to sun down” all over the Capital Region — are kept at various locations, often with employees, that frequently change, Reynders said Wednesday.</p>
<p>“Honestly, I don’t want to get any bigger,” said Reynders. “If anything, I want to get smaller and provide our valuable service to the local community.”</p>
<p>Her hopes of opening a garage for minor repairs and inspections, which led to the town’s issuing the ticket more than a year ago, will go unfulfilled, she said.</p>
<p>Reynders said she is now trying to sell equipment and machinery that was purchased for close to $20,000 to set up the garage; she estimated the same amount went to legal fees. On the Hitmans Towing Facebook page, posts from early January advertise a plasma cutter and a repair diagnostic computer for sale.</p>
<p>“To my knowledge, as to the allegations that gave rise to the tickets that were issued, we have answered those allegations and proceed from there,” said Dorfman, asked what he knew of what the business is doing since the plea. “I have not taken any steps, or extensive steps, to determine what if anything is occurring at the Hitmans property, nor to my knowledge has the town received any complaints relative to any business activity since.”</p>
<p>Asked whether Hitmans Towing is based at the Knox address, where Reynders also lives with her family, she said “Not really. We looked into it. The only thing I’m doing, I’m on the phone.”</p>
<p>Over the summer of 2013, Reynders appeared before the town’s zoning board to get approval to expand her business by taking some cars into her garage for vehicle inspections. The board suggested she go to the planning board, since the use wasn’t covered by the zoning ordinance.</p>
<p>In July that year, the planning board recommended that the town board create a business district encompassing Hitmans and a handful of other businesses in a stretch along Route 146 near Lewis Road, later reversing itself in October of that year.</p>
<p>In the petition filed in Albany County Supreme Court, Reynders’s attorney wrote that the businesswoman felt targeted by the town.</p>
<p>“We do have a part-time building department, as you know. Whether or not they go out looking for violations as opposed to waiting to have reports,” Dorfman said, asked whether the town’s zoning enforcement could be considered reactive. “I don’t have an answer for you on that, one way or the other, both could be a way of doing it.”</p>
<p>After Reynders was ticketed and dozens of residents attended a town board meeting in support of the business, the planning board in February voted again to create a business district in the area of Hitmans, in what was deemed the least objectionable option for addressing Reynders’s petition asking the town board to amend the zoning law.</p>
<p>Having enacted no laws allowing business uses since business districts were anticipated in the town’s comprehensive plan two decades ago, the town board in March designated the first such area — for the hamlet. It held off on creating the second one, awaiting a revision to the comprehensive plan.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, throughout 2014, the case in town court was headed for a jury trial.</p>
<p>Reynders had started her towing company while living with her family in Altamont, where she received a letter in October of 2009 from then-building inspector Donald Cropsey. He described complaints neighbors made about commercial vehicles parked in a residential area of the small village and directed her to cease and desist. She said she has been in Knox since 2009.</p>
<p>If Reynders does open a garage, she said it might not be in the same area.</p>
<p>“It’s got me kind of bitter, but I would definitely like to keep my towing here,” she said. “We’d just have to work a lot to save up to do [a garage] again.”</p>
<p>Though her attorney, in weighing the risks, advised her to take the guilty plea, Reynders said she still does not believe she is guilty. She wants to see a Route 146 business district result from a revision to the town’s comprehensive plan.</p>
<p>Although an anticipated addendum to the plan has not yet been written, public response has favored economic development.</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 19, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/knox" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Knox</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/zoning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">zoning</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/lawsuit" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">lawsuit</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/hitmans-towing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hitmans Towing</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/business-districts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">business districts</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/comprehensive-plan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">comprehensive plan</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Feb 2015 06:51:05 +0000admin5187 at http://altamontenterprise.comBKW student helps make history in state competitionhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/02192015/bkw-student-helps-make-history-state-competition
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/4081" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/Trio%20stands.jpg?itok=5NLZBIuK" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Trio%20stands.jpg?itok=-j4GwOH3" width="300" height="247" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>— Photo from Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School</p>
<p><strong>Head held high,</strong> Thomas Fisher, left, a senior at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, poses with teammates Emily Taylor from Cohoes and Jeremy Clement from Troy after winning the state title in the We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution competition on Feb. 7.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>ALBANY — Berne-Knox-Westerlo senior Thomas Fisher was part of a team that beat five others from across the state in a test of their Constitutional acumen.</p>
<p>It was the first time in the competition’s 28 years that it was won by an upstate team, according to Richard Bader, the team’s coach. Fisher’s team is from the New Visions: Law &amp; Government class, part of the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services Career and Technical School.</p>
<p>In a congressional-hearing format, the high school students were asked questions on Constitutional issues — Should there be term limits on Supreme Court justices? Why or why not? In what ways, if any, did the Thirteenth Amendment extend to limits on private, as well as public actions? They had to defend their positions, using their knowledge of the philosophical tenets of the country’s founding document and its political system.</p>
<p>But the judges could also ask any question they deemed relevant.</p>
<p>“One of the judges asked a question about a political cartoon they had seen that week,” said Bader.</p>
<p>The team has advanced beyond the regional level of the competition, called We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution, in each of the past few years. Now, it will compete for the national title at George Mason University and in the congressional hearing rooms on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., from April 24 to 27.</p>
<p>The New Visions students have a career interest in law and government. Their classroom is at the State Education Department in Albany, where they study a curriculum that shares its name with the competition. The class is considered a blend of English, law, economics, and political science, with related internships and job shadowing.</p>
<p>Fisher is currently an intern for Senator Gustavo Rivera, said Bader, himself a lawyer who has practiced in private and public roles, and worked as assistant director of Albany Law School's Science and Technology Law Center. He has taught in the New Visions program for 15 years, during which time BKW alumna Sarah Gordon, and alumni Kyle Holley, and Judd Krasher have been students.</p>
<p>Bader said Fisher came to the program with a keen interest in history, and one of his strengths is his understanding of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, two opposing parties during the birth of the Constitution.</p>
<p>In the class, Bader said, he tries to keep students thinking on their feet by relying less on lectures and more on discussions and debates based on assigned readings that include <em>The Merchant of Venice, Crime and Punishment, Democracy in America, The Federalist Papers, The Brethren, All The President's Men</em>, and <em>One-L</em>.</p>
<p>He uses the Socratic method, known for its use in law schools, where questions of the professor are often answered with a question, bearing out hypotheses to find contradictions and encourage critical thinking.</p>
<p> “The judges told me they were very impressed with how the students were able to play devil’s advocate with each other and articulate more than one point of view,” Bader said.</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 19, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/berne-knox-westerlo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Berne-Knox-Westerlo</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/boces" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">BOCES</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/new-visions" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">New Visions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">government</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/law" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">law</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/education" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">education</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 19 Feb 2015 06:43:25 +0000admin5186 at http://altamontenterprise.comAnnual town contract delayed for Westerlo fire companyhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/02122015/annual-town-contract-delayed-westerlo-fire-company
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/4029" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08874.JPG?itok=BahE_5iq" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08874.JPG?itok=2GRofczw" width="300" height="331" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Tom Diederich,</strong> deputy chief of the Westerlo Volunter Fire Company, speaks during the Feb. 3 town board meeting about the extended requirements placed on organizations, like his, which don’t pay people in exchange for their time and work.<br />
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>WESTERLO — Wanting a closer look at the budget of Westerlo's longtime fire service, staffed by volunteers, the town board on Feb. 3 postponed approving its contract.</p>
<p>Tom Diederich, deputy chief of Westerlo’s local fire company, said during the Feb. 3 meeting that it could continue service into March by using its non-tax funds.</p>
<p>“After that time, we'd be dipping into our truck fund,” said Diederich.</p>
<p>The agency's total expenses for 2013 were $327,000, according to an audit by the state comptroller's office.</p>
<p>The Westerlo Volunteer Fire Company, a not-for-profit organization, gets most of its funding through the town's budget — this year slated at $191,305, a $2,775 increase over 2014 — mixed with money from donations, insurance payments, fundraisers, and grants. Without a contract, none of the town’s part has actually been paid to the company so far this year.</p>
<p>In adopting the town's 2015 budget in November, the board did not approve a contract with the agency, first incorporated in 1938. Led by Councilman William Bichteman, the board asked to see more details on the 2015 fire company budget request, including a copy of the company's financial statement, a breakdown of its capital reserve fund used for buying equipment, and a reflection in the budget of the recent sale of property in Dormansville and the purchase of a parcel with a house in the Westerlo hamlet that could be used for a future addition to the firehouse and is currently used as administrative offices.</p>
<p>The company is due to meet with board members on Feb. 17.</p>
<p>Bichteman said he wants to have wording changed in the fire company's contract before approving it, requiring more detailed financial statements to accompany budget requests each year.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08877_1.JPG?itok=6ffsbrVT" /></p>
<address><sub><strong>In the balance:</strong> The chance that the longtime fire company would no longer contract with the town is slim, Councilman William Bichteman, right, said as the board postponed approving an agreement at its last meeting. “We’re on the same team,” Bichteman told company officers.</sub><sub>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</sub></address>
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<p>The comptroller’s audit report, released in October, found the company's cash payments were made properly, though an internally appointed audit committee never performed an annual audit of the treasurer's records.</p>
<p>“The agency is made up of all volunteers who’s time has many demands which lead to the audit not being complete at time of the audit,” wrote Debra Filkins, the company's president, in a response to the audit. “The agency will make it a priority of the audit committee to complete the audit report for the board's review at its annual meeting.”</p>
<p>A former treasurer and current assistant chief of the company, Andrew Joslin, submitted papers to the town board on Feb. 3 in response to its request for more information.</p>
<p>Two letters had been sent asking for the documents without response, Bichteman said. The company's officers at the February board meeting said they had come in response to the first letter in December, delayed in its preparation because of the holiday season. The second letter was received shortly before the meeting, after the financial documents had already been prepared, they said.</p>
<p>“It would have been nice if we could have had this before the meeting so that, if I had a question, I could pose it,” Bichteman said after Joslin passed out his papers comparing the company's budgets for 2012 and 2013 with actual expenditures. The papers also listed extra revenue, and expenses for which “we don't charge the town,” Joslin explained.</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s the spirit of the fire department that I knew growing up but it's a volunteer fire department,” said Bichteman. “…and I find it almost a slap in the face that you pay somebody to plow and mow the lawn.”</p>
<p>“You want to do it for free?” asked Allan Clickman, who sits on the company’s board of directors. A free plow service can’t be found, the officers added.</p>
<p>“Also, back in those days, everybody worked a 40-hour week, not a minute longer, typically,” said Diederich. “Also, too, if we took training, it was about 25 hours worth of training,” he went on. Now the state and federal requirements are more than four times that for firefighters, and reach closer to 500 hours in order to be a fire chief. The volunteers have to drive to Elsmere at the nearest, dozens of times, in order to be trained.</p>
<p>With the purchase of a used sport utility vehicle, which Diederich called the chief’s vehicle, Westerlo's volunteers are enticed to take a fire company vehicle to the training sessions with their equipment in tow, instead of taking their own. Volunteer organizations like ambulance squads and fire companies are generally finding volunteers less willing, especially for daytime service. A grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency was used by rural fire companies to market volunteer firefighting and boost their ranks in 2012 and 2013</p>
<p>“How again do you attract help if you're not paying money?” asked Diederich</p>
<p>After the meeting, Joslin and Diederich told <em>The Enterprise</em> they were open to the town board's requests, on the principle of transparency. But they stressed a point made throughout the meeting: volunteers can only be asked to do so much.</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 12, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/westerlo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Westerlo</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/firefighters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">firefighters</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/budget" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">budget</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/westerlo-volunteer-fire-company" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Westerlo Volunteer Fire Company</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contracts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">contracts</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 12 Feb 2015 19:39:51 +0000admin5110 at http://altamontenterprise.comVanAlstyne pleads not guilty, objects to media coveragehttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/02112015/vanalstyne-pleads-not-guilty-objects-media-coverage
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/4026" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08978.JPG?itok=odaeK-n3" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08978.JPG?itok=mfX2auJ8" width="300" height="455" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Remanded</strong> to Albany County’s jail, Tiffany VanAlstyne, 20, in handcuffs, is escorted out of Albany County Court after her arraignment, which lasted less than three minutes.<br />
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08982.JPG?itok=Cm-BKJ_C" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08982.JPG?itok=wHHRcPxm" width="300" height="209" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Brenda VanAlstyne,</strong> left, stares forward as her daughter, Tiffany VanAlstyne, not pictured, walks by, a few feet away in Albany County Court on Feb. 11. Tiffany VanAlstyne entered a plea of not guilty during her arraignment on murder and manslaughter charges.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08976.JPG?itok=6ywBYVsO" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08976.JPG?itok=NImn4W4m" width="300" height="310" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>James Milstein,</strong> at left, stands with his client, Tiffany VanAlstyne, before the bench in Albany County Court on Feb. 11. The county’s public defender, Milstein said he and VanAlstyne did not want video or audio recording by media outlets allowed during the arraignment, arguing that publicity could taint potential jurors in a trial.<br />
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>ALBANY — <a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/12192014/police-say-kindergartner-was-strangled-his-cousin">Arrested on Dec. 19</a> for the murder of her 5-year-old cousin, Tiffany VanAlstyne, now 20, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree manslaughter, all felonies.</p>
<p>When Albany County Court Judge Peter Lynch asked both sides whether they approved of video and audio being recorded by the press, James Milstein, Albany County’s public defender, objected.</p>
<p>“It would have the potential to contaminate any jury pool,” he said, leading to an impartial jury and unfair trial. VanAlstyne stood next to him wearing a red jumpsuit with her hands shackled in front of her.</p>
<p>“Well, I disagree with that,” Lynch responded, permitting the reporters and photographers occupying the jury box to turn on their cameras. Shannon Sarfoh, bureau chief of the Special Victims Unit, prosecuting the case for the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, did not object.</p>
<p>On Feb. 6, a grand jury indicted VanAlstyne for second-degree murder on two different parts of the charge under Penal Law. The first, subdivision 1, recognizes two forms of defense, including the “influence of extreme emotional disturbance…to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant’s situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be.”</p>
<p>The second count of second-degree murder is for subdivision four, involving a “depraved indifference to human life,” and recklessly causing the death of someone younger than age 11.</p>
<p>The third count, for first-degree manslaughter, is for subdivision four, recklessly causing the death of anyone younger than age 11, with the intent of causing physical injury.</p>
<p>At 19 years old, VanAlstyne was looking after her young relatives — Kenneth White and his twin, both 5, and a 4-year-old sister — with whom she lived in a trailer at 994 Thacher Park Road in Knox, when, police say, she strangled the boy and caused blunt-force trauma to his head before dumping his body over a guardrail into a snowbank across the street.</p>
<p>VanAlstyne has been in Albany County’s jail for the month and a half before the indictment by a grand jury was announced by the Albany County District Attorney’s Office Friday afternoon. She faces up to life in prison as her sentence.</p>
<p>Several relatives have <a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01222015/custody-petitions-sisters-murdered-boy-unsuccessful">tried to visit and obtain custody</a> of Kenneth White’s two young sisters who lived in the Knox trailer. People not close to the family have rallied around White's story to raise awareness of what they call cases of child abuse. Employees of the Albany County Sheriff's Office have set up a fund for the sisters.</p>
<p>VanAlstyne's mother, Brenda VanAlstyne, has tried unsuccessfully to get permission from an Albany County Family Court judge to visit White's two sisters, who lived in the trailer with her for less than a year. White's father was denied custody of the girls, but, along with their mother, who lives separately, is allowed to visit them.</p>
<p>At VanAlstyne’s arraignment before Judge Lynch Wednesday, Sarfoh said the district attorney’s office is ready for trial. Lynch said he was filling in for Judge Stephen Herrick, who will preside over the case in the future. A conference with Herrick and the attorneys was scheduled for Feb. 18, with pre-trial motions due by March 30.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 11, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/murder" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">murder</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/manslaughter" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">manslaughter</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/grand-jury" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">grand jury</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/tiffany-vanalstyne" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Tiffany Vanalstyne</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/albany-county-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Albany County Court</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/judge-peter-lynch" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Judge Peter Lynch</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/judge-stephen-herrick" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Judge Stephen Herrick</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Wed, 11 Feb 2015 20:34:24 +0000admin5076 at http://altamontenterprise.comCalling suit moot, Knox denies ambiguityhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/02052015/calling-suit-moot-knox-denies-ambiguity
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3975" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC01213.JPG?itok=ob_bRXLE" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC01213.JPG?itok=fVhfZPNc" width="300" height="200" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Enterprise file photo — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Fenced in,</strong> Hitmans Towing has been located on Route 146 on the same property as the home of its owner, Kristen Reynders.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>ALBANY — Responding to a lawsuit brought by the owner of a Knox towing business, the town denied allegations about its prosecution of a zoning violation and argued there was no confusion over the level of the charge, considering it a clear misdemeanor.</p>
<p>Last month, Kristen Reynders, owner of Hitmans Towing on Route 146, filed an Article 78 petition against the town of Knox in Albany County Supreme Court, a special proceeding allowed in state law for challenging a government action. Reynders’s petition asked the court to order the town to stop prosecuting the charge as a misdemeanor, dismiss any zoning tickets against her — due to the “nature of the unlawful criminal sanction it imposes” and “ambiguity generated by the Town Prosecutor” — and pay attorney’s fees.</p>
<p>In his response on Jan. 29, John Dorfman, representing Knox, called for Supreme Court Judge Kimberly O’Connor to dismiss the petition. He wrote that the petition was “rendered moot” after Reynders pleaded guilty in town court to the charge of operating a business in a residential area, according to the response papers obtained by <em>The Enterprise</em>. She paid a $300 fine. Since the Jan. 21 plea, her trucks have been on local roads carrying rescued cars.</p>
<p>Tracing other lines of defense, Dorfman cited Penal Law to say that Reynders’s offense was not a violation, but a misdemeanor, while also writing that the determination is left to a presiding judge. In an interview last week, before the response was filed, Dorfman said court interpretations were mixed on whether the statutory language used in the town’s zoning law considers offenses to the local law violations or misdemeanors and that, with the plea, the town took no position.</p>
<p>A misdemeanor is a charge that can result in a prison sentence of 15 days to a year and becomes part of a criminal record. A violation can bring only a maximum of 15 days in prison.</p>
<p>Using language from the statute for an Article 78 proceeding, Reynders’s petition says that Dorfman acted “without or in excess of jurisdiction” when he implied that she could ultimately be found guilty of a misdemeanor, after first saying it was a violation.</p>
<p>Reynders and her lawyer, Nicole Strippoli of Young, Fenton, Kelsey &amp; Brown, did not return phone calls Wednesday.</p>
<p>“Prior to purchasing the property, the Petitioner consulted with a realtor and Town officials, who informed her that she would be able to operate a business at that location,” Strippoli wrote.</p>
<p>Writing in his response, Dorfman denied that paragraph, as well as several others, including Strippoli’s contention that Reynders was “unfairly targeted” since she is aware of no other businesses near her home that were issued tickets for violating the town’s zoning law.</p>
<p>Reynders left Altamont, where she first started her towing business, several years ago after running afoul of the village’s zoning. She now lives on the same property where Hitmans Towing has been based, with a few other businesses in the same area, where Route 146 meets Lewis Road.</p>
<p>After a public outcry and a petition to change the zoning law, supporters of Hitmans Towing are now looking to an addendum of the town’s comprehensive plan for a signal that the zoning regulations would be changed to allow commercial uses along Reynders’s road. The Knox town board amended the zoning law last year to allow for mixed commercial and residential uses in the hamlet on Route 156.</p>
<p>Citing People v. Bonnerwith, a 1972 case involving the town of Rhinebeck’s zoning law, Strippoli argued that the state law that was excerpted in the Knox zoning law clearly says that, when it comes to conviction, a violation of the zoning law is considered an offense.</p>
<p>But Dorfman wrote that Strippoli misread the Bonnerwith case, in which Rhinebeck had changed the state language in its own law, substituting “offense” with “misdemeanor.”</p>
<p>“By reason of that change the Town Court found that the Town had exceeded the authority of the NYS Town Law…,” Dorfman wrote. “This is not what occurred in this prosecution!”</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 5, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/knox" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Knox</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/albany-county-supreme-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Albany County Supreme Court</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/john-dorfman" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">John Dorfman</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/hitmans-towing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hitmans Towing</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/zoning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">zoning</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 05 Feb 2015 07:12:07 +0000admin5046 at http://altamontenterprise.comTwo meals sites open for elderlyhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01292015/two-meals-sites-open-elderly
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3917" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08730.JPG?itok=0cido2sP" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08730.JPG?itok=ApwTexXV" width="300" height="181" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>A social side to lunchtime:</strong> Patricia Rapp leans in to speak to Eileen Clickman at Tuesday’s luncheon at the Westerlo Reformed Church annex, seated across from Richard Umholtz. On the menu that day was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. The next meal is on Feb. 10 at noon.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>HILLTOWNS<span style="line-height: 1.6em;"> — As the congregate-meals site was closed and reestablishing at a new location in Berne, church members and concerned </span>Hilltowners<span style="line-height: 1.6em;"> have started a luncheon program with a similar aim in </span>Westerlo<span style="line-height: 1.6em;">.</span></p>
<p>The meals site in Berne, at the senior center on Route 443, received its permit from the county’s Department of Health on Jan. 14, with regular meals scheduled to start there on March 2. The site was moved after its longtime home in Westerlo closed for lack of participation in August 2013.</p>
<p>For both the Westerlo Reformed Church and the Helderberg Senior Services Inc., the not-for-profit agency administering the Berne site, the target diners are elderly people who spend most of their time at home, with very little contact with other people.</p>
<p>“We need to find those people,” said Berne Supervisor Kevin Crosier this week.</p>
<p>In both Berne and Westerlo, diners should be 60 or older with a spouse of any age.</p>
<p>In the middle of a snowstorm on Tuesday, a half dozen diners sat in the annex of the Westerlo Reformed Church for the second luncheon of the “Young at Heart Seniors Ministry.” Volunteers wore aprons and cleaned the tables, feet away from racks of food and a freezer that make up a food pantry run by the Hilltown Community Resource Center, a partner with the church.</p>
<p>“People up here don’t seem to go out,” said Marion Cooper, still with a Jersey City accent from her youth. In her eighties, Cooper sat across from Evelyn Burnside, an old customer from Cooper’s ceramic shop who she hadn’t seen in over 20 years. With increased expenses, Cooper added, family members are often away at work, with ever-busy lives.</p>
<p>Part of the impetus for the ministry was the desire to start serving meals, instead of waiting on the county-funded site, said Chris Allen, the pastor of the Reformed church who spearheaded the idea with Mary Beth Peterson, director of the resource center.</p>
<p>“We know several seniors that are shut in and we thought, winter time, perfect time,” said Allen.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://www.altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08732.JPG?itok=fS19NtRF" /></p>
<address><sup><sub><strong style="line-height: 1.6em;">Warm kitchen:</strong><span style="line-height: 1.6em;"> Giggles and good will come from the kitchen in the Westerlo Reformed Church annex as volunteers clean the remaining utensils used at a luncheon for elderly neighbors on Jan. 27. </span><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</span></sub></sup></address>
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<p>Lunches are served at noon inside the annex building behind the Reformed church on Route 143, every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Music is played and the diners can stay for bingo.</p>
<p>In what Allen called a “card ministry,” church member Karen Bolte has started making personalized greeting cards for people, signing the messages with “your Hilltown friends.”</p>
<p>“I do think people enjoy getting something that they’re not expecting,” said Bolte, who has made and kept cards since her youth.</p>
<p>The program is being publicized through word of mouth, Allen said, and funded with donations, and with possible grants through the church’s regional synod.</p>
<p>As the ministry continues, Allen and Peterson hope to have the meals delivered to people who need help but don’t come to the church. They would also like to have handy seniors take local students looking for community service to help the elderly with small chores, like fixing a leaking faucet or tightening a handrail.</p>
<p>“They like to be very good housekeepers,” Allen said of the people the ministry wants to help. “They’re devastated when they see cobwebs, they can’t do anything about them.”</p>
<p>“Contractors are not going to touch this stuff,” she added.</p>
<p>In Berne, the meals are funded by the county budget, with most of the money coming from the state’s Office for the Aging, and the remaining 10 percent from the county. The menus are prepared using nutrition guidelines for the elderly set by the state office.</p>
<p>The Schuyler Inn in Menands, part of Father Peter Young’s rehabilitation efforts, will prepare the meals and bring them to Berne, where volunteers will help serve and clean, Crosier said.</p>
<p>Crosier said the two Hilltown meal programs could co-exist. He said the Schuyler Inn might serve good lasagna and attract people from all four Hilltowns one day. “One day the church might have a baked fish and everyone says, that’s really good,” he said.</p>
<p>With doors opening at 11:30 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, the Berne meals will be served at noon.</p>
<p>Eventually, organizers hope the Friday lunch will occasionally become a Friday dinner night, with entertainment, like a movie, slated for the evening.</p>
<p>“It’s not just food, it’s an event, it’s a social event,” said Crosier.</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 29, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/westerlo-reformed-church" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Westerlo Reformed Church</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/congregate-meals" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congregate meals</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/albany-county-department-aging" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Albany County Department for Aging</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 29 Jan 2015 20:17:33 +0000admin4968 at http://altamontenterprise.comHitmans Towing pleads guilty to ticket, sues townhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01292015/hitmans-towing-pleads-guilty-ticket-sues-town
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3911" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/Hitmans%2C%20do%20run.JPG?itok=Ad5ZlQZF" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Hitmans%2C%20do%20run.JPG?itok=gk4GDxsp" width="300" height="146" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>With white hot flames</strong> painted on its grill, a Hitmans Towing flatbed drives along Route 7 in Schenectady in October. Despite its owner being ticketed in January 2014, the business's trucks have been a frequent sight on local roads.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">KNOX — The owner of Hitmans Towing pleaded guilty to operating a business in a residential area and paid a $300 fine on Jan. 21, ending a legal challenge to the town five days before a trial was scheduled to start.</span></p>
<p>A week earlier, Nicole Strippoli, of Young, Fenton, Kelsey &amp; Brown, representing the business’s owner, Kristen Reynders, filed a petition in Albany County Supreme Court, seeking temporary restraining orders on the town’s prosecution of the case, as well as a permanent order stopping proceedings against Reynders in Knox Town Court.</p>
<p>The town’s attorney, John Dorfman, said Wednesday that the temporary restraining orders were dismissed by a Supreme Court judge shortly before Reynders pleaded guilty. The Supreme Court is the lowest in the state’s three-tiered system.</p>
<p>“It’s my belief that it’s moot,” Dorfman said of the Supreme Court petition, which anticipates a judgement from the court on Feb. 13 and remains an open case in the court’s online schedule.</p>
<p>Reynders’s suit against Knox is an Article 78 proceeding, an appeal of a government decision, in Reynders’s case, to stop the town from considering her charge a misdemeanor by arguing that the zoning ordinance didn’t allow for it. Three other Article 78 suits have been brought against the town of Knox in the last 10 years, all of which have been disposed.</p>
<p>Phone calls to Reynders and Strippoli were not returned.</p>
<p>While the Knox Town Board has discussed establishing a business district on Route 146 where Reynders lives and where she has based her business, and the planning board has recommended as much, the area is not currently zoned for business. Reynders’s red flatbed trucks, meanwhile, can still be seen driving on local roads carrying rescued cars. A handful of businesses near her home are largely considered grandfathered in, having been established before the zoning ordinance was adopted.</p>
<p>“I think I made it very clear that, if she operates a business in the town and we become aware of it, and there is a complaint made to us, that we will enforce our zoning,” said Dorfman.</p>
<p>The case in town court reflected a desire for change in the town’s zoning code and comprehensive plan as dozens of residents appeared at town meetings in support of Hitmans, criticizing what they deemed inconsistent enforcement and an unfriendly business environment.</p>
<p>“As far as petitioner is aware, no other businesses in the two mile radius from her home were issued tickets for violating the Town’s Zoning Ordinance,” Strippoli wrote in the petition. “Upon information and belief, Petitioner contends that she has been unfairly targeted.”</p>
<p>As the town’s case against Reynders has been adjourned since the ticket was issued in January 2014, the town’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance have been undergoing revision.</p>
<p>“I think the whole thing is ridiculous, but I think I’m glad she pleaded guilty and got that done because I think Dorfman was thinking of going after a misdemeanor so she’d have a criminal record, and, by pleading guilty to a ticket, that eliminated the risk of having a jury finding her guilty of a misdemeanor,” John Elberfeld, an outspoken supporter of Hitmans who attended Reynders’s recent court appearance, said Wednesday.</p>
<p>Confusion as to whether the charge Reynders was facing was in fact a violation or a higher-level misdemeanor was at the center of her suing the town.</p>
<p>“The consequences of accepting a plea to the charge or even of being convicted of the charge at a trial are unclear because of the ambiguous nature of the ordinance and because of the Town’s own changes in interpretation,” Strippoli wrote in the petition, referring to Dorfman’s correspondence. “The ordinance itself has generated confusion as to whether a violation of the Zoning Law is in fact, a violation, or if it is a misdemeanor for purposes other than jurisdiction. A conviction of a misdemeanor would cause irreparable harm to the Petitioner.”</p>
<p>Dorfman said the town didn’t take a position on the level of the charge, only that Reynders violated the zoning ordinance, which includes language taken from state statutes regarding the nature of an offense.</p>
<p>The language comes from the state’s Town Law: “a violation of any ordinance, rule or regulation adopted by the town board pursuant to this chapter is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor except as otherwise provided by law and except that any such violation of a provision of a town Building code or zoning ordinance shall be deemed an offense against such code or ordinance, and the town board may provide for the punishment thereof by fine or imprisonment or both; provided, however, that for the purpose of conferring jurisdiction upon courts and judicial officers generally, violations of a town building code or zoning ordinance shall be deemed misdemeanors and for such purpose only all provisions of law relating to misdemeanors shall apply to such violations.”</p>
<p>“There is a mix of case law decisions on a local criminal-court basis as to what it is or isn’t, be it a violation or a misdemeanor,” Dorfman said.</p>
<p>Asked whether he indicated the charge could be a misdemeanor, Dorfman said, “I sent an email stating, based on a definition of a misdemeanor, that it could very well be considered a misdemeanor in the state of New York,” said Dorfman.</p>
<h3><strong>Troubled history</strong></h3>
<p>Reynders first caught the attention of the town when she approached the zoning board hoping to establish an state inspection station in a garage on her property, where, she said, the business would also do minor repairs.</p>
<p>She had started her business while at her father’s house in Altamont, where, in 2009, she received a letter from the village building inspector at the time, Donald Cropsey, saying that he had received complaints about commercial vehicles in the driveway.</p>
<p>“I want to let you know that your property is Zoned R-20, a single family residential zone,” Cropsey wrote. “The use of your property as described above is not allowed in the zone. As such, you are hereby directed to cease and desist such activity immediately.”</p>
<p>She has lived with her family in Knox for several years since then, building a house on the Route 146 property. Strippoli in her petition, as well as Reynders’s uncle, Robert Smith, at public meetings, said that the town’s building inspector, Robert Delaney, had been contacted about the use of the garage and said she would be able to operate a business at the property.</p>
<p>“We’re not saying she’s innocent, but my concern was they let her build her house there, so they must have known she was running a business there,” said Elberfeld. “Why did they let her invest all that money in a house on land where eventually they’re going to tell her you can’t run your business here?”</p>
<p>The town’s planning board eventually voted to recommend that the town board create a business district in the area of Reynders’s home, encompassing other existing businesses. It later reversed its decision and the ticket was issued at the beginning of 2014, after Reynders applied for a special-use permit to do vehicle inspections in her garage.</p>
<p>The planning board changed its vote again, recommending to the town board in February that it create a business district on Route 146. The town board decided to wait until the comprehensive plan is updated.</p>
<h3><strong>Comprehensive plan update</strong></h3>
<p>The business district that could make Hitmans Towing align with the town’s zoning ordinance was pushed off by the town board until after the comprehensive plan is revised.</p>
<p>On Feb. 10, at the town board’s next regular meeting, Councilwoman Amy Pokorny said she hopes to report on the rough draft of an addendum to the town’s 20-year-old plan. The public won’t be allowed to view the addendum’s roughly 30 pages of core content until after the board reviews and edits the draft, Pokorny said. Later, the board will hold a public hearing on the addendum, which is to include updated maps and survey responses.</p>
<p>“The comprehensive plan will address that,” Pokorny said of a potential business district in the area of Hitmans Towing. “There are specific areas that we asked about in the survey and the responses were positive about those areas, including that one.”</p>
<p>A year ago, the town board voted to create a mixed-use business district in the hamlet, along Route 156, and to wait until after the plan was finalized before developing a second district in the area of the towing business.</p>
<p>“The town board merely said they would look into it,” Dorfman said Wednesday, countering what Strippoli wrote of the board.</p>
<p>Reynders, with the support of neighbors, residents, and customers, submitted a petition to the town board asking for a zoning change that would accommodate her business. The planning board then voted narrowly to recommend that a business district be created for Route 146, while the minority wrote an opinion to express its dissent to the town board.</p>
<p>“I think the participants who came to these workshops, everybody really did make an effort to be objective and keep the controversial discussions separate from the work that we were doing,” Pokorny said Wednesday. “We were really looking at the results of the survey responses.”</p>
<p>Pokorny said 43 different people attended the various workshops for public input that were held in Town Hall, in addition to emails, letters, and phone calls with feedback.</p>
<p>The goals from the original comprehensive plan would remain essentially the same, she said, with the public input gathered throughout the past year attached to it, if adopted by the board. The plan that was adopted in 1995 anticipated business districts, as did the zoning ordinance, first adopted in the 1970s. But no district had been designated until this year, with the boundaries set around the hamlet where no outward signs of commercial activity can be seen.</p>
<p>“What my hope is, and the people who analyze the surveys is, the town will listen to what the people want and establish more business districts, hopefully one of them will be where Kristen is and she’ll actually be able to run her business safely there,” said Elberfeld, who worked on the survey committee.</p>
<p>In order to be incorporated with the town’s comprehensive plan, the addendum will have to be reviewed by state and county planning and environmental boards.</p>
<p>“One of the aspects to the comprehensive planning is that it’s something that it really is most useful if it’s done on a continuous basis,” said Pokorny</p>
<p>With potential new additions in parentheses, the goals in the comprehensive plan are:</p>
<p>— Protect the Town’s groundwater and other natural resources.</p>
<p>— Preserve the rural character of the Town (while promoting an environment conducive to working landscapes, thriving businesses and protected high value natural elements).</p>
<p>— Encourage the continued existence of open and agricultural lands, and agriculture.</p>
<p>— Promote and protect the aesthetic, cultural and historic character of the Town.</p>
<p>— Encourage economic and social vitality (for all Town residents) consistent with the Town’s rural character.</p>
<p> — Maintain a continuing planning process to ensure that the goals herein are implemented through appropriate revisions to the zoning ordinance, the subdivision regulations and other appropriate Town action.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 29, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/hitmans-towing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hitmans Towing</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/zoning" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">zoning</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/business-districts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">business districts</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/knox" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Knox</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/comprehensive-plan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">comprehensive plan</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 29 Jan 2015 19:25:03 +0000admin4966 at http://altamontenterprise.comCustody petitions for sisters of murdered boy unsuccessfulhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01222015/custody-petitions-sisters-murdered-boy-unsuccessful
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3875" typeof="">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/IMG_0805.JPG?itok=vzpwXGBK" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/IMG_0805.JPG?itok=8farJycJ" width="300" height="212" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Brenda VanAlstyne</strong> walks to cross the street in downtown Albany Wednesday as reporters and cameramen surround her coming from Albany County Family Court. She was again denied visits to her nieces, Christine and Cheyanne, who lived in her trailer until Kenneth White, their brother, was killed in December.</p>
</div></div></div> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">ALBANY — The home of Christine and Cheyanne White is still undetermined, a month after their 5-year-old brother, Kenneth, was found strangled to death and covered in snow across from the street from their last home in Knox.</span></p>
<p>At a Wednesday hearing in Albany County Family Court, Judge Gerard E. Maney did not allow any attempts by family members to gain custody of the young children, including a woman who said she was a great aunt on their mother’s side. Brenda VanAlstyne, their aunt and legal guardian at the time of the murder, was denied visits with the two girls as she begins to see psychologists.</p>
<p>The parties agreed to a family psychological assessment of VanAlstyne and the children’s parents by the county’s Department of Children, Youth and Families before returning to court in March.</p>
<p>Five women stood on the curb across the street from the courthouse during the proceedings, holding signs with messages of justice for the slain Berne-Knox-Westerlo kindergartener. They said they want to see the girls adopted by another family, and are disgusted with the situation the children were in. The girls are now in the care of Albany County Child Protective Services. Cheyanne, Kenneth’s twin, was 5 at the time of the Dec. 18 murder and Christine was 4.</p>
<p>In a previous hearing, their father, Jayson White, was denied custody of Christine and Cheyanne. The children’s mother, Christine VanAlstyne White, lives in Amsterdam. The judge Wednesday cited previous allegations against Jayson White, including sex abuse, four counts of endangering the welfare of children, and unsanitary conditions in Montgomery County.</p>
<p>“We’ve been stonewalled by Berkshire County,” said Jeffrey Kennedy, assistant senior attorney for the Albany County Department of Law, representing the department of Children, Youth and Families. He added that the Massachusetts county’s child protective services has not returned phone calls or messages over the past month in order to learn more about Jayson White’s history there.</p>
<p>What is known, he said, is that White has recently moved from his home in western Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Maney described the lack of information on White, as well as his known history, among the risks that weighed on whether the two girls should be released from the county department or visited by relatives.</p>
<p>“She’s charged with neglect and abuse, the allegation that a child was murdered in her care and custody,” Maney said of Brenda VanAlstyne.</p>
<p>In December, three of White’s children — twins Kenneth and Cheyanne, and their younger sister Christine — had been living in a trailer with Brenda VanAlstyne, their aunt and legal guardian, along with VanAlstyne’s daughter, Tiffany, Kenneth VanAlstyne, and a young man that police described as having been taken in by VanAlstyne.</p>
<p>At 19, Tiffany was arrested by police for second-degree murder, charged with brutally killing Kenneth, her cousin. On Dec. 18, she had a prescription filled and was with the children in their trailer on Thatcher Park Road while her mother was briefly away at the school, police said.</p>
<p>Tiffany VanAlstyne initially reported that two men in black ski masks broke into their trailer, held her down, and took Kenneth away in a black truck. An Amber Alert was issued for a missing child, called off after the body was found by a police dog.</p>
<p>Speaking to the press on the day of the arrest, police said Christine and Cheyanne were in the home when Kenneth was killed but did not say what they witnessed. The two girls have seen a developmental pediatrician, Kennedy said in court, with a report on their conditions and needs not ready for the hearing.</p>
<p>As of Wednesday, Tiffany VanAlstyne had not been indicted and remains in jail, Rylan Richie, the Albany County assistant public defense attorney representing her, told the judge.</p>
<p>Tiffany VanAlstyne said she takes various medications for bipolar disorder, birth control, and some she couldn’t identify during her arraignment on Dec. 19. County officials said they did not see mental health as a factor in their investigation.</p>
<p>Kennedy said Brenda VanAlstyne has begun to see a psychologist and submitted a list of medications she takes, “reported to be taking as prescribed,” he said.</p>
<p>Jim McSparron, representing Christine and Cheyanne White, consented to resuming the visits with Brenda VanAlstyne, which were suspended at the last hearing. “With the understanding that, if something goes wrong, it would cease,” he said.</p>
<p>“So I am supposed to find that there’s no risk, that the trauma these two children have faced has been eliminated by one visit by Brenda VanAlstyne to a family health center?” Maney asked later in the hearing. “I don’t even have a report from them.” She was denied visits with the two girls.</p>
<p>The trailer where Kenneth lived with Brenda VanAlstyne was described as unsuitable for children when Sheriff Craig Apple spoke to reporters after Tiffany’s arrest, and he requested that the town’s zoning administrator inspect its conditions. Inside, Apple said, clothing was dangerously near space heaters and a woodstove was poorly ventilated</p>
<p>Knox’s assistant building inspector, Daniel Sherman, visited the trailer the next day, on Dec. 20, finding it was in violation of 14 sections of state property maintenance law. He said the heating source needed to be repaired. In a notice and order given to Brenda VanAlstyne and signed by her on Dec. 24, which <em>The Enterprise</em> obtained through a Freedom Of Information Law request, Sherman wrote, “(a building permit is required for the installation of a wood stove) and portable heaters are only to be used as supplemental heat.” A window in one of the bedrooms was inaccessible, ceasing to be an emergency exit, and a rear addition area should not be used as a bedroom, the notice says; the trailer was also lacking smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms, and a properly operating rear door.</p>
<p>On Jan. 8, Brenda VanAlstyne was issued a building permit to install a $1,000 woodstove.</p>
<p>“I believe those issues have been addressed with the Berne town building department and I don’t believe those issues exist with the residence,” Jeffrey Burken, her attorney, said in court Wednesday.</p>
<p>Maney said that their biological mother was not able to have custody of the children “for health reasons.” When asked whether she was thinking about filing a custody petition, Christine White’s attorney, Ruth Supovitz, said they are continuing to discuss it as a possibility.</p>
<p>The parents, Jayson and Christine White, who live separately, were allowed to continue with supervised visits.</p>
<p>“Mr. White has visited his children consistently,” said Kennedy. “They appear to have a strong bond, between him and his children.” He said the same of their mother, but she has had trouble visiting because of medical and transportation issues.</p>
<p>Michelle Sweet, who told the judge she was the children’s great aunt on the VanAlstyne side, petitioned to have custody of the two girls, denied Wednesday morning after the attorneys in the case expressed reservations and opposition.</p>
<p>“We don’t really have any information about her at this point,” Kennedy said.</p>
<p>“My client is concerned about broader exposure for the children,” said Supovitz. Jayson White’s attorney, too, said he opposes the petition.</p>
<p>A letter was sent to the court by Jayson White’s mother in California, Mary Rotgers, the children’s grandmother, but it was dismissed because it was not in the form of a petition, Judge Maney said.</p>
<p>Alternate Public Defender Leah Walker Casey, representing Jayson White, said Wednesday he would withdraw his petition. The judge confirmed it was withdrawn and dismissed.</p>
<p>“He sees a long road,” Casey told Maney. “He hasn’t given up on ultimately being reunited with his children.”</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://www.altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/CAM00045.jpg?itok=37SQf_1j" /></p>
<address><sub><sup style="line-height: 1.6em;"><strong>Honks and hugs</strong> greeted a handful of women, pictured here from a lobby window in the Albany County Family Courthouse as they stand out in the cold holding signs calling for justice for Kenneth White and safety for his sisters. The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</sup></sub><hr /></address>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong style="line-height: 1.2em;">"Kenneth’s Army"</strong></h3>
<p>Eager to hear the outcome of the hearing on Wednesday, the five women who stood across the street from the courthouse and held signs with messages for justice for Kenneth White and his sisters watched television cameramen and newspaper photographers circle the courthouse doors waiting for Brenda VanAlstyne. They sighed with relief when they learned that custody had not been granted to any family members.</p>
<p>“It’s not just the Whites or the VanAlstynes, it’s the environment,” said Heather Bier from East Durham. “It wasn’t suitable for a pet.” She said they want to see the girls adopted by another family.</p>
<p>“The state needs to stay with them,” she said.</p>
<p>The women are members of what they call “Kenneth’s Army,” a group organized through Facebook with a mission of advocating for children who face abuse.</p>
<p>The group’s leader, Michelle Fusco, said it has about 15 members from the Hilltowns, and dozens more from surrounding areas. Online, 451 are members.</p>
<p>In the days that followed the arrest, a memorial page on Facebook titled “Lights for Kenneth White” appeared and a candlelight vigil followed at the Berne school, attended by a crowd that police estimated at 900. But Fusco, a waitress and former school board member, saw the remembrance and grief turn into anger at White’s family as people continued to post on the memorial page.</p>
<p>“I felt that wasn’t an appropriate place to talk about those things,” she said. And so she started the group “Justice for Kenneth White, safety for his sisters,” where people have shared news stories of child abuse across the country.</p>
<p>“Number one, we want to keep his memory alive, and we wanted to make sure his sisters remain safe and hopefully never go back to anyone in that family again,” Fusco said of Kenneth White.</p>
<p>Asked about what abuse they point to in the VanAlstyne trailer, Fusco said they feel the children were failed by the family and child protective services, which should have been more involved.</p>
<p>“We don’t know anything other than what anybody has seen on the news,” she said.</p>
<p>The group is planning several events to raise funds for an annual scholarship they hope to award to a graduating Berne-Knox-Westerlo student who plans to work in social services.</p>
<p>The remaining money will go toward a memorial fund started by the Albany County Sheriff’s officials for Christine and Cheyanne White.</p>
<p>A dinnertime fundraiser was held on Jan. 17 at Maggie’s Sports Bar on Western Avenue in Guilderland to support the trust set up for the two girls. The owner, Maggie Smith, said she was approached with the idea by friends who know the sheriff and his memorial fund.</p>
<p>With donated food, prizes, and cab rides, the event raised a total of $5,500, Smith said, with more than 220 diners. She said she hopes to have a golf tournament in the summer to benefit the sisters.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Donations may be made to the memorial fund at any M&amp;T Bank branch, depositing to the “County of Albany Kenneth White Memorial Fund,” or by dropping it off at any of the sheriff’s stations — at 16 Eagle Street, Room 79 in Albany; at 58 Verda Ave. in Clarksville; or at the Albany County International Airport, 737 Albany Shaker Road in Albany.</span></p>
<p>For the months ahead, “Kenneth’s Army” is planning a potluck dinner in April, a motorcycle run in Thacher Park on June 6, and a memorial walk in Thacher Park on Aug. 22, Kenneth White’s sixth birthday.</p>
<p>Part of its platform is a bill sought by Sheriff Apple that would adjust the balance between the privacy of child protective services records and the needs of law-enforcement agency in an urgent investigation.</p>
<p>Albany County District Attorney David Soares told <em>The Enterprise</em> on the day of Tiffany VanAlstyne’s arrest that he has no criticism of the system, where a court order is required to obtain health records for an investigation.</p>
<p>One of the women holding a sign Wednesday was from the Hilltowns. Dawn Gibson, whose children, ages 7 and 9, attend Berne-Knox-Westerlo schools and knew Kenneth White, said her family lives a half-mile from the VanAlstynes in Knox, but she never met or talked to the family.</p>
<p>None of the women had personal connections to the case, but said the story compelled them to join “Kenneth’s Army.”</p>
<p>“I feel as if he was my little boy, and I think all of us feel that way,” said Fusco.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 22, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/knox" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Knox</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/albany-county-family-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Albany County Family Court</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/kenneth-white" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Kenneth White</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/murder" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">murder</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:06:09 +0000admin4932 at http://altamontenterprise.comWhy has BKW interim administrator resigned?http://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01152015/why-has-bkw-interim-administrator-resigned
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3837" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/IMG_7753.JPG?itok=trI41NVc" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/IMG_7753.JPG?itok=_LgMT3vw" width="300" height="386" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Michael Koff</p>
<p><strong>​The secondary school at Berne-Knox-Westerlo</strong> has seen recent turnover in leadership; the latest to leave is an interim assistant principal and athletic director, John Metallo.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><span>BERNE — As an interim assistant principal in </span>Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s<span> secondary school, Dr. John </span>Metallo<span> was the primary disciplinary figure for students for the three months he was employed by the district.</span></p>
<p>He noted this, denying flatly any inappropriate interactions with students or colleagues at BKW, as <a href="http://www.altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01152015/girls-metallo-made-me-nervous-and-anxious">a group of girls and their parents have claimed</a>. He acknowledged he was given feedback on his administrative style, but said it wasn’t “actionable” and had nothing to do with his resignation.</p>
<p>“I went there every day. I did the best job I could possibly do,” Metallo said in an interview Tuesday. “No parent ever spoke to me about any problem, no student ever spoke to me about any problem, and I tried to do the best job I could do. Maybe people had the wrong impression of me.”</p>
<p>He went on, “My style isn’t one maybe they’re used to there, but it was nothing like touching somebody or whatever.”</p>
<p>In contrast to the female students' claims, Metallo said he was in the lunchroom about once a week.</p>
<p>In October, Metallo was appointed for the rest of the school year, to be paid $300 per day. His resignation in January was accepted unanimously by the BKW School Board. He was hired for the newly created assistant principal position after Brian “Jeff” Keller resigned as dean of students at BKW, having started in February, to become assistant principal at Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk.</p>
<p>Board President Joan Adriance said this week she was given no reason for Metallo’s leaving and declined to comment on her reaction to his short time at BKW.</p>
<p>Addressing the alleged touching of hair and rubbing of shoulders, Metallo said he was “not overly” physical with anyone. He added later that he has been married for 43 years and has children.</p>
<p>“My guess is this is coming from one parent or two parents that are disgruntled about something, because that’s the way it usually goes,” said Metallo.</p>
<p>At 65, Metallo said he would return to retirement, from which he came to work at BKW.</p>
<p>“I was driving 40, 50 miles a day and just wanted to enjoy retirement more,” he said of his reasons for resigning. “Christmas vacation came up.”</p>
<p>During the break, Metallo said, he went to North Carolina, where he saw the Tar Heels, his favorite basketball team, play at the University of North Carolina. As a coach, Metallo was influenced by Dean Smith, who led UNC. He said any random dollars he gave to BKW students must have been for people wearing the team’s colors, light blue and white.</p>
<p>“Would I give a kid [a dollar] once in while? Sure,” Metallo said. “I’ve been a huge North Carolina basketball fan for years and anybody that knows me knows that.” He said he has done that throughout his career and likened it to the doughnuts he brought in for students on Fridays as an administrator in another district.</p>
<p>Asked whether students ever hurried away from him at BKW, Metallo said he never saw any, saying he was present in the hallways and classrooms as part of his duties.</p>
<p>“I was very visible. I’m around the school a lot,” he said. “I visit classrooms, which I think was a little unusual for BKW, but I think there should be an administrative presence, stopping in, saying, ‘Hello.’” He went on to explain that an administrator’s presence can be preventative and show students that the administrator has an interest in day-to-day activities at school.</p>
<p>“I wore a suit and tie to school every day. I probably looked different than they’re used to seeing,” said Metallo, trying to figure out why students would say he made them nervous. “I really don't know. I am charismatic. I am around a lot.”</p>
<p>Metallo has held several superintendent and principal positions in districts throughout the Northeast, earning awards and accolades along the way. From 2002 to 2005 he was superintendent of the nearby Middleburgh school district.</p>
<p>Beginning his career as an administrator, Metallo was a principal of Mayfield High School and superintendent at Fort Plain when they both were regarded as New York State Schools of Excellence.</p>
<p>He resigned as a principal in Torrington, Connecticut, in 2008 as the superintendent pushed him out and publicly alleged that he had “engaged in inappropriate behavior with female faculty members and with female students,” and that he “defrauded the retirement system,” according to newspaper accounts in <em>The Register-Citizen</em>, based in Torrington.</p>
<p>The Torrington superintendent lost her job, <em>The Citizen</em> reported, after the school board there questioned her management of Metallo and others at the school who she made accusations against, <em>The Citizen</em> reported. A civil suit Metallo filed against O’Brien and the Torrington School Board, arguing the accusations were false and defamatory, ended in a settlement in 2012, but Metallo told <em>The Enterprise</em> he could not talk about it as part of the agreement.</p>
<p>“It was substantial,” he said of the settlement.</p>
<p>It’s not clear whether the allegations against Metallo at BKW were a factor in his resignation.</p>
<p>In general, Charles Dedrick, district superintendent for Capital Region Board Of Cooperative Educational Services, said he would not favor limiting what a previous district could tell a prospective employer about a non-tenured administrator’s background.</p>
<p>“I think the days of making those silent deals are long gone,” said Dedrick. “I don’t make them and I don’t recommend anybody make them. That’s not good practice.”</p>
<p>Metallo was appointed by the BKW School Board on the recommendation of the interim superintendent, Joseph Natale. Dedrick said his regional organization, which sometimes acts as a clearinghouse for interim superintendents’ résumés, was not involved in Metallo’s hire.</p>
<p>“It’s a personnel matter and any references and things are personnel,” Natale said, when asked about how Metallo was vetted before being hired.</p>
<p>He added, “We looked into his experiences and some of his background.”</p>
<p>Natale declined to answer specific questions about how he responded to parents’ concerns. He referred to forthcoming information in requests for documents made by <em>The Enterprise</em>. While Natale is preparing responses to the Freedom Of Information Law requests, the district’s designated official for handling FOIL requests is the business administrator.</p>
<p>Brian Corey, the school’s principal while Metallo was at BKW, did not return calls seeking comment on his role.</p>
<p>In a recent article in <em>On Board</em>, published by the New York State School Boards Association, Jeffrey Honeywell and Ryan Mullahy, attorneys at Girvin &amp; Ferlazzo, P.C., a firm that has served as counsel for BKW, wrote about the caution districts should exercise when using the Internet to check the backgrounds of potential hires.</p>
<p>“For legal reasons, many employers avoid doing social media checks or even Google searches during the hiring process,” they wrote, explaining that knowledge of what someone has said online can lead to costly discrimination claims.</p>
<p>“Employers that choose to conduct research on employment applicants use the Internet or social media can minimize legal exposure by dividing the research and interview/hiring functions among different school district staff,” Honeywell and Mullahy wrote.</p>
<p>Honeywell, who advises Berne-Knox-Westerlo, was not available for comment on Wednesday. Mullahy declined to comment because the district is a client of his firm.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 15, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/berne-knox-westerlo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Berne-Knox-Westerlo</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/john-metallo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">John Metallo</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/education" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">education</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/brian-corey" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Brian Corey</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 15 Jan 2015 22:12:37 +0000admin4887 at http://altamontenterprise.comForum on BKW's next leader nets few visitorshttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01152015/forum-bkws-next-leader-nets-few-visitors
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3831" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2015-1-13%20Lynn%20Wells%20listens%20BKW.jpg?itok=Qv1dHtEx" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2015-1-13%20Lynn%20Wells%20listens%20BKW.jpg?itok=-GyN7thX" width="300" height="200" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>In the middle of an empty auditorium,</strong> Lynne Wells, with her chin on her hand, listened to Berne-Knox-Westerlo parent Sarah Pasquini talk about the qualities she seeks in the district’s next superintendent. Wells is an assistant superintendent for the regional district of Board Of Cooperative Educational Services.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><span>BERNE — Two parents of </span>Berne-Knox-Westerlo<span> students sat in the school’s auditorium Monday night, outnumbered by the facilitators of a search for the next superintendent.</span></p>
<p>“I’m getting dragged into this because I’m concerned with where the school is going,” said John Valachovic, an assistant Boy Scout leader who has three sons in the school. He and Sarah Pasquini, a mother of two BKW students, talked about what they are seeking in the next permanent superintendent in the rural district.</p>
<p>Currently working with a second interim superintendent in two years, BKW’s school board has recently started the search for his successor, helped along by Capital Region Board Of Cooperative Educational Services. The district of just under 900 students paid its last superintendent an annual salary of more than $120,000.</p>
<p>A survey with the same end as the community forum is <a href="http://www.bkwcsd.k12.ny.us/Resources/supersearch.cfm" target="_blank">available on the district website</a> until Feb. 13. The criteria collected will become part of a brochure for the search, with candidates’ applications due by March 16.</p>
<p>Lynne Wells, dressed in a bright red blazer with a matching scarf around her collar, leaned toward Pasquini in the middle of the auditorium, listening closely. Wells, an assistant district superintendent for BOCES, started by asking her to identify the strengths of BKW.</p>
<p>“I think right now, the biggest strengths are the community and the teachers,” said Pasquini. She continued, “The teachers are very dedicated to the students. They are easily accessible to us.”</p>
<p>William DeVoe, a BOCES public information specialist, used a purple marker to write her comments in bullets on a large sheet of paper, reading them back before they moved onto the next of four questions.</p>
<p>A similar forum held earlier that day for faculty and staff was attended by roughly 50 people, Wells told <em>The Enterprise</em>. Besides the two parents in the community forum at night, a third person stopped in to give her input.</p>
<p>One of Pasquini’s biggest questions in the search is whether the district is going to be around for her daughter to graduate.</p>
<p>“What I want to not hear is rumors of redistricting,” she said later. “What I want to have is the school is going to stay intact and this is how we’re going to do it.”</p>
<p>When Wells asked about what needs to be improved in the district, Pasquini responded quickly: communication and collaboration between the superintendent and the board of education. She said she once had to call the school when she wasn’t notified that her daughter’s teacher had left or who the new one was. She contrasted this with a letter going home about changing traffic patterns at school.</p>
<p>“I think the image of the school needs to be put in a positive light and not in a negative light,” Pasquini told Wells, talking about press reports of fines accrued by the district. “There’s so many interim people that nobody is knowing what is going on,” she said.</p>
<p>“So what I hear you saying, you are looking for administration stability,” Wells affirmed.</p>
<p>Asked what she sought in the next superintendent, Pasquini said she wanted someone who would collaborate with groups in the district, have experience in a rural community, and have a long-term vision. She praised an informational night for parents and students last year to learn about Common Core Learning Standards for math.</p>
<p>Valachovic walked in and took a seat just before Pasquini finished answering the questions. Wells joined him.</p>
<p>“I’m very happy you came out because I think this is a very important decision for communities to make,” said Wells, adding that public input will help the board of education in the search.</p>
<p>Both Valachovic and Pasquini inquired about how they might be involved in the search process in the future. Community members, students, or BKW employees referred to as “stakeholders” will help in late April to interview candidates winnowed by the school board. The appointment is scheduled to take place in June.</p>
<p>“I’m desperate for consistency,” Valachovic told Wells, bypassing the questions he had already answered in the survey online.</p>
<p>He went on to talk about the need for a superintendent who hires the right people. He said Brian Corey, a principal who recently resigned to become superintendent at a nearby district, was his friend.</p>
<p>“When he was still here,” said Valachovic, “I was able to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’” </p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 15, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/berne-knox-westerlo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Berne-Knox-Westerlo</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/superintendent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">superintendent</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/boces" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">BOCES</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/education" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">education</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Thu, 15 Jan 2015 21:34:57 +0000admin4883 at http://altamontenterprise.comNew year starts with super's thankshttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01082015/new-year-starts-supers-thanks-0
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3810" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08561_0.JPG?itok=SeUGMaeD" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08561_0.JPG?itok=N4ow391I" width="300" height="241" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>First full term:</strong> Dawn Jordan stands prepared to be sworn in as a Berne councilwoman for the next four years. She then joined the three other board members for the reorganizational meeting on Jan. 1, the seat she’s held for the past year, filling in for Bonnie Conklin, who resigned in Nov. 2013. Councilman Wayne Emory was absent.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>BERNE — Supervisor Kevin Crosier started the New Year’s Day reorganizational meeting by offering thanks to the people whose work helped Berne in 2014: the town board, employees, volunteers, emergency responders, and officials from other layers of government.</p>
<p>Crosier added that, in 2015, the town would finish renovating the town park pavilion, finish a review of the town’s comprehensive plan, update the zoning law, and continue buying equipment for the highway department. He said the town would be seeking some of the $500 million in state funds announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo in October for expanding Internet access.</p>
<p>A dozen people attended the afternoon meeting, gathering in a side room for coffee, and homemade cookies and brownies brought by Councilwoman Karen Schimmer.</p>
<h3><strong>Appointments</strong></h3>
<p>The town board made the following appointments with no discussion or opposing votes:</p>
<p>— Joseph Golden as deputy supervisor;</p>
<p>— Kevin Crosier as director of emergency management;</p>
<p>— Anita Clayton as registrar and deputy tax collector;</p>
<p>— William J. Conboy II as legal counsel;</p>
<p>— William J. Conboy III as deputy legal counsel;</p>
<p>— Cheryl Tefft-Baitsholts as dog control officer;</p>
<p>— Brian Crawford as chairman of the assessors;</p>
<p>— Patricia M. Favreau as deputy town clerk, deputy registrar, and marriage officer;</p>
<p>— Katherine Hill-Brown as alternate deputy town clerk;</p>
<p>— Frances O’Malley as second deputy tax collector;</p>
<p>—Tim Lippert as building and zoning inspector;</p>
<p>— Ralph Miller as town historian;</p>
<p>— Ronald Jordan as zoning board chairman;</p>
<p>— Rick Otto to a five-year term as zoning board member;</p>
<p>— Alan Rockmore as planning board chairman;</p>
<p>— Michael Vincent to a five-year term as planning board member;</p>
<p>— Kathleen Moore as conservation board chairwoman;</p>
<p>— Susan Hawks-Teeter and Nancy Engel to two-year terms as conservation board members;</p>
<p>— Emilie Wright as chairwoman of the board of assessment review;</p>
<p>— Robert Conklin to a five-year term as a board of assessment review member;</p>
<p>— Gertrude Horl as youth council chairwoman;</p>
<p>— Chuck Conklin and Erin Rappaport to two-year terms as youth council members;</p>
<p>— Nancy Lendrum to a five-year term as a library trustee;</p>
<p>— Mary Jo McKeon as a library clerk; and</p>
<p>— Kathy Stempel as the highway clerk.</p>
<p>Salaries and wages</p>
<p>The board voted to approve annual salaries for the following positions:</p>
<p>— Supervisor at $18,666;</p>
<p>— Town judges at $9,500 each;</p>
<p>— Councilmembers at $3,529.25 each;</p>
<p>— Town clerk at $39,915;</p>
<p>— Highway superintendent at $52,224;</p>
<p>— Tax collector at $6,732;</p>
<p>— Chairman of the assessors at $12,980;</p>
<p>— Assessor 1 at $12,006 and Assessor 2 at $7,280;</p>
<p>— Building inspector and code enforcement officer at $14,223;</p>
<p>— Legal counsel at $12,648;</p>
<p>— Deputy legal counsel at $10,200;</p>
<p>— Dog control officer at $6,195;</p>
<p>— Senior account clerk at $49,212;</p>
<p>— Registrar of vital statistics at $1,050;</p>
<p>— Planning board chair at $2,136;</p>
<p>— Planning board members at $1,716 each;</p>
<p>— Zoning board chair at $468;</p>
<p>— Zoning board members at $260 each; and</p>
<p>— Records management at $657.</p>
<p>The board also set these hourly wages:</p>
<p>— Deputy town clerk at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Planning and zoning boards secretary at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Highway clerk at 15.98;</p>
<p>— Justice court clerk at 16.98;</p>
<p>— Highway department employees at $19.94;</p>
<p>— New highway department employees at $18.94;</p>
<p>— Deputy highway superintendent at $20.18;</p>
<p>— New highway department employees at $18.55;</p>
<p>— Winter highway department employees at $16;</p>
<p>— Summer highway department employees at $14.04;</p>
<p>— Parks and cemeteries caretaker at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Buildings laborer at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Seasonal youth employees for parks at $10;</p>
<p>— Compactor operator at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Solid-waste coordinator at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Wastewater treatment plant operators at $20;</p>
<p>— Alternate wastewater operator at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Custodian at $15.60;</p>
<p>— Sewer clerk at $16.30;</p>
<p>— Library manager at $15;</p>
<p>— Library assistant at $12;</p>
<p>— Library clerk at $10.25;</p>
<p>— Library page at $9.18;</p>
<p>— Cultural community senior employee at $14.32;</p>
<p>— Youth director at $16.30; and</p>
<p>— Conservation board intern at $15.98.</p>
<p>Jurors are to be paid $10 per day.</p>
<h3><strong>Other business</strong></h3>
<p>In other business, the town board voted to pass the following motions:</p>
<p>— To designate First Niagara as the official depository bank and The Altamont Enterprise as the official newspaper of the town;</p>
<p>— To authorize the highway superintendent to spend up to $1,000 on tools, tires, and equipment without prior approval from the board;</p>
<p>— To meet the second Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. for the town board’s regular meeting, and every fourth Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when necessary;</p>
<p>— To authorize the supervisor to pay all utility bills, postage, and salaries without prior approval from the board;</p>
<p>— To authorize the highway superintendent to purchase fuel through state contracts;</p>
<p>— To authorize the supervisor to enter into an agreement with Community Caregivers for administering the use of the van for elderly residents;</p>
<p>— To authorize the supervisor to have 60 days to file an annual report with the state comptroller;</p>
<p>— To authorize the supervisor to enter into an agreement with the town’s library.</p>
<p>— To authorize the reimbursement of training expenses for the tax collector, town clerk, and town judges;</p>
<p>— To authorize the highway superintendent to renew a memorandum of understanding about the Stream Protection Law between the town and the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation;</p>
<p>— To authorize the supervisor to enter into an agreement with Albany County for participation in Advanced Life Support services, at a cost not to exceed $79,000;</p>
<p>— To authorize the supervisor to enter into an agreement with Helderberg Ambulance, not to exceed $55,000; and</p>
<p>— To designate Joseph Golden as the board’s liaison to the highway department and the library, Wayne Emory as liaison to the zoning and planning boards, Karen Schimmer as liaison to the sewer district, senior citizens, and conservation board; and Dawn Jordan as liaison to the youth council.</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 8, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/kenneth-crosier" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Kenneth Crosier</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Fri, 09 Jan 2015 03:20:46 +0000admin4850 at http://altamontenterprise.comYearly meeting reappoints Knox’s workerbeeshttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01082015/yearly-meeting-reappoints-knox%E2%80%99s-workerbees
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3808" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08556.JPG?itok=npwSbYOa" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08556.JPG?itok=eP7vPTCa" width="300" height="200" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Bright white in the winter,</strong> the Saddlemire Homestead in Knox is sporting refurbished green shutters on Jan. 1, putting the final touch on a fresh painting of its outside. The chipped exterior paint of the town’s historical museum was a pale yellow, now white. Eschewing vinyl siding, the town chose instead the more historically appropriate option — paint — which will not damage the structure in the long run.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">KNOX — On New Year’s Day at 9 a.m., Councilman Dennis Barber pointed out how nice the newly painted </span>Saddlemire<span style="line-height: 1.6em;"> Homestead looked in front of Town Hall with its green shutters installed.</span></p>
<p>Board members gathered for the annual ritual of town appointments, completing their business by unanimous vote in under a quarter of an hour.</p>
<p>The town board voted to:</p>
<p>— Establish <em>The Altamont Enterprise</em> as the official newspaper of the town;</p>
<p>— Designate The Key Bank, Bank of America, and First Niagara Bank as the town’s depositories;</p>
<p>— Set regular town board meetings to be held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m., except for the November meeting, which will be on the first Wednesday following Election Day. All meetings will be held in Town Hall; and</p>
<p>— Empower the supervisor to implement a 1970 resolution by the town board relating to the town’s participation in the sales-tax distribution by the county.</p>
<p>— Authorize the highway superintendent to purchase equipment, materials, and tools for his department, not to exceed $1,500 for a single purchase without board approval; and</p>
<p>— Authorize the supervisor to submit the town’s annual fiscal report to the state’s comptroller within 60 days after the close of the previous fiscal year.</p>
<h3><strong>Appointments</strong></h3>
<p>The board also made the following appointments on New Year’s Day:</p>
<p>— Mary Alice Geel as deputy town clerk;</p>
<p>— Helen Quay as registrar of vital statistics;</p>
<p>— Deborah Liddle as deputy registrar of vital statistics and court clerk;</p>
<p>— Lee Martin as deputy tax collector;</p>
<p>— Cheryl Frantzen as town historian;</p>
<p>— Dennis Decker as emergency preparedness coordinator;</p>
<p>— Nicholas Viscio as deputy supervisor;</p>
<p>— Edward Nicholson as data collector;</p>
<p>— Robert Delaney as building/sanitary inspector and zoning administrator;</p>
<p>— Daniel Sherman as assistant building inspector;</p>
<p>— Louis Saddlemire as part-time dog warden and also as a park laborer;</p>
<p>— Dennis Barber as ex officio member of the youth committee;</p>
<p>— Deborah Liddle as court clerk;</p>
<p>— John McGivern as court officer;</p>
<p>— Loren Shafer Jr. as deputy highway superintendent;</p>
<p>— Catherine Bates as part-time account clerk;</p>
<p>— David Quay as landfill attendant;</p>
<p>— Richard Dexter as landfill attendant;</p>
<p>— Carol Barber as minutes recorder for the zoning board;</p>
<p>— Jennifer Geckler as minutes recorder for the planning board;</p>
<p>— Charles Crary as highway department equipment operator 1 at $19.67 per hour;</p>
<p>— James Schager as highway department equipment operator 1 at $14.73 per hour;</p>
<p>— Matthew Schanz as highway department equipment operator 1 at $18.70 per hour;</p>
<p>— Loren Shafer as highway department equipment operator 1 at $20.34 per hour, plus 50 cents per hour;</p>
<p>— Donald White as highway department equipment operator 1 at $20.23 per hour;</p>
<p>— Donald Wagner as highway department equipment operator 1 at $16.17 per hour;</p>
<p>— Joseph Adriance as a landfill attendant and also as a part-time highway department laborer at $15.80 per hour;</p>
<p>— John Dorfman as town attorney;</p>
<p>— Robert Edwards as zoning board of appeals chairman for 2015, and named these members with terms to expire on Dec. 31 of the following years — John DeMis (2021), Susan Mason (2020), Kenneth Kirik (2019), Robert Edwards (2018), Pamela Kleppel (2017), Gail Burgess (2016), and James McDonald (2015);</p>
<p>— Robert Price appointed as planning board chairman, and named these members with terms to expire on Dec. 31 of the following years — Robert Gwinn (2021), Thomas Wolfe (2020), Robert Price (2019), Brett Pulliam (2018), Earl Barcomb Jr. (2017), Betty Ketcham (2016), and Daniel Driscoll (2015);</p>
<p>— Timothy Frederick as board of assessment review chairman, and named these members with terms to expire on Sept. 30 of the following years — Gerald Irwin (2019), Jocelyn Farrar (2018), Vall Pulliam (2017), Howard Zimmer (2016), and Tim Frederick (2015);</p>
<p>— Councilman Dennis Barber as ex officio member of the youth committee and named the following members — MaryEllen Nagengast, Jean Gagnon, Jean Forti, Ann Payne, Thomas Payne, Karin Kuck, Chasity McGivern, and Glen Humphrey; and</p>
<p>— Councilman Nicholas Viscio as ex officio member of the conservation advisory council and named these members with terms to expire on Dec. 31 of the following years — Chairman Nathan Giordano (2022), Travis O’Donnell (2021), Toni Forti (2020), Patricia Irwin (2019), Cheryl Frantzen (2018), Eric Kuck (2017), Hank Donnelly (2016), and Stephanie Siciliano (2015).</p>
<p>The youth services coordinator, and the senior services coordinator positions were left vacant.</p>
<h3><strong>Salaries</strong></h3>
<p>The board also established the following salaries:</p>
<p>— Supervisor at $16,672;</p>
<p>— Superintendent of highways at $55,878;</p>
<p>— Town clerk, a part-time post, at $12,585;</p>
<p>— Deputy town clerk paid $12.87 hourly;</p>
<p>— Tax collector at $5,000;</p>
<p>— Assessor at $12,608;</p>
<p>— Data collector at $4,202;</p>
<p>— Councilmembers at $3,825;</p>
<p>— Justices at $10,143;</p>
<p>— Registrar of vital statistics at $1,188;</p>
<p>— Emergency preparedness coordinator at $222;</p>
<p>— Deputy supervisor, youth services coordinator, and senior services coordinator with no salary;</p>
<p>— Building/sanitary Inspector and zoning administrator at $9,522;</p>
<p>— Assistant building inspector at $4,096;</p>
<p>— Town historian at $712;</p>
<p>— Court officer at $1,900;</p>
<p>— Dog warden at $6,687;</p>
<p>— Park laborer at $14.92 hourly;</p>
<p>— Landfill attendants at $12.33 hourly;</p>
<p>— Court clerk at $16.71 hourly;</p>
<p>— Account clerk at $20.97 hourly;</p>
<p>— Deputy highway superintendent salary, an additional 50 cents an hour;</p>
<p>— Deputy tax collector at $12.87 hourly;</p>
<p>— Minutes recorder for the zoning and planning boards at $12.87 hourly;</p>
<p>— Highway department laborer at $14.66 hourly;</p>
<p>— Highway department operator I at $15.04 hourly;</p>
<p>— Highway department operator II at $15.45 hourly; and</p>
<p>— Town attorney at $18,094.</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 8, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/knox" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Knox</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/reorganizational-meeting" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">reorganizational meeting</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/saddlemire-homestead" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Saddlemire Homestead</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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</div></div></div>Fri, 09 Jan 2015 03:17:37 +0000admin4848 at http://altamontenterprise.comBerne hopes to share new salt shed with countyhttp://altamontenterprise.com/news/hilltowns/01082015/berne-hopes-share-new-salt-shed-county
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">by <a href="/author/marcello-iaia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marcello Iaia</a></div><div class="field field-name-field-images field-type-field-collection field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-images clearfix" about="/field-collection/field-images/3803" typeof="">
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/DSC08565.JPG?itok=DYvX-AY7" rel="lightbox[field_image][]" title=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://altamontenterprise.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/DSC08565.JPG?itok=FMVOjIkX" width="300" height="218" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-description field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia</p>
<p><strong>Children in tow,</strong> Randy Bashwinger takes his oath of office, administered by William Conboy, the town’s attorney, at the Berne reorganizational meeting on Jan. 1. From left are his sons, Edward John Bashwinger, Zak Bashwinger, Dallas Bashwinger, and Caleb Bashwinger; his wife, Jessica Bashwinger; and his stepdaughter, Ashley Cooper. Two of his children are not pictured.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>BERNE — The town can look forward to having a roof over its salt and sand, Supervisor Kevin Crosier said during the town’s reorganizational meeting on Jan. 1 as he described projects for Berne in 2015.</p>
<p>He hopes a new shed at the highway department would be a second shared loading station for snowplows used during snowstorms by the county and the town, mentioning a third-party study of countywide highway services that was released in November and highlighted potential savings in sharing highway facilities.</p>
<p>The newly elected highway superintendent — the lone Republican in a Democratic administration — isn’t convinced of the savings in the first shared facility, at a county shed on Cole Hill Road, but welcomes a new structure at the highway department.</p>
<p>Plans have been drawn up for the salt shed, which would protect the town’s winter road materials from the elements and cost between $200,000 and $230,000, Crosier told <em>The Enterprise</em>. He said engineers were asked to design a shed to hold 2,000 tons of material, based on what a shared-services agreement with the county might require.</p>
<p>As it is now, the town’s salt and sand is piled outside, washing away with the rain and freezing with the cold temperatures, costing time and wasting material, Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger said Wednesday. Also, the loader won’t have to be driven as far, since it will be kept covered next to the pile, he said.</p>
<p>The town already has an agreement to store some of its salt and sand at the county substation on Cole Hill Road. The plan is to save money and time by cutting down on the length of refill trips. But the substation’s shed can’t fit all of the town’s salt and sand, Crosier said.</p>
<p>The previous highway superintendent, Kenneth Weaver, said the plan wouldn’t work and didn’t follow it. A few days into his new job as highway superintendent, Randy Bashwinger said that the plan isn’t currently being used.</p>
<p>Weaver resigned in September, less than a year after his re-election, feeling that the town board wasn’t supportive as it criticized his late list of road maintenance projects.</p>
<p>Having narrowly won the 2014 election for the three years left in Weaver’s term, Bashwinger took his oath of office just before the New Year’s Day meeting, surrounded by his family. He, like Weaver, said putting the town’s salt and sand at the county substation wouldn’t be more efficient. He said most of the town’s plow routes are on the east end of town, closer to the highway department; the one large truck that would use it can run its route with just one load.</p>
<p>“That may be true if you do the route once,” Crosier responded through <em>The Enterprise</em>, “but during a snowstorm you may have to refill more than once,” going back out on a route. The county location is useful in emergencies, Crosier said. He is hopeful Bashwinger will see it as beneficial.</p>
<p>“You still have to come back here to fuel up,” Bashwinger said of the town’s highway department in the hamlet of Berne. “If you have any mechanical issues, you have to come back here.”</p>
<p>Bashwinger said two separate sheds for the county and the town seemed like the best situation.</p>
<p>“They have one truck that comes over here, and we only have one truck that would go over there, so it would defeat the purpose of trying to mix and match and that. I think he was talking about storage,” Bashwinger said, referring to Crosier.</p>
<p>The money for the new shed would be borrowed, Crosier said. The town will next discuss its use with the county, possibly completing the project as late as 2016.</p>
<h3><strong>Harmonious start</strong></h3>
<p>Since his first day Friday, Bashwinger and the six highway employees have been keeping roads clear of scattered snow and ice. He sounded jubilant Wednesday.</p>
<p>“Everybody seems to be getting along real well,” he said of the highway department he recently joined.</p>
<p>Bashwinger ran in the recent election on the Republican line against Democrat Edward Hampton, who has worked for the department for 10 years and was appointed as the interim superintendent after Weaver resigned.</p>
<p>“Ed is an excellent mechanic and a very good trainer. I mean, he’s been working really well with me and I’m really pleased with the way that’s working out,” said Bashwinger.</p>
<p>Hampton has handled purchasing for the highway department, working mainly as a mechanic and a driver.</p>
<p>In the recent snowstorms, drivers couldn’t communicate well with their radios in certain areas of the town, Bashwinger said. The problem of clear transmission on the escarpment has persisted for Hilltown highway departments, mainly for Berne and Knox.</p>
<p>Bashwinger said he will choose who will be the next deputy supervisor within the next week, but he hasn’t yet made up his mind.</p>
<p>The position is a “lateral move,” Bashwinger said, with the deputy able to take fewer holidays than a union employee.</p>
<p>“I think the deputy should definitely have a little bit more benefits then what they get from the town,” he said, referring generally to income and time off.</p>
<p>“He’s kind of second in charge and basically another supervisor,” he said.</p>
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</div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Post date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 8, 2015</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/berne" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Berne</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/highway-superintendent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">highway superintendent</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/shared-services" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shared services</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/albany-county-department-public-works" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Albany County Department of Public Works</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/daniel-mccoy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Daniel McCoy</a></li></ul></div><div class="easy_social_box clearfix vertical easy_social_lang_und">
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